Ontario Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Encourages Ottawa Businesses to Reduce Environmental Impact as a Way to Gain Competitive Edge

Ottawa, October 8, 2015 – On Tuesday October 6, 2015, the Better Buildings Breakfast in collaboration with EnviroCentre hosted a successful business breakfast event with keynote speaker Ontario Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Mr. Glen Murray.

The event brought together over 80 attendees from a cross-section of businesses in Canada’s Capital Region to learn about the Province’s Cap-and-Trade system and hear about opportunities for reducing their organizations impact on the environment to meet provincial targets.

Minister Murray addressed the crowd by focusing on opportunities within the building and transportation sectors. He encouraged businesses in Ottawa and Ontario to be innovative. By reducing environmental footprints, companies can and will benefit from increased productivity, reduced costs, and an overall improvement on the health and well-being of individuals.

Additionally, Mike Morrice of Sustainability CoLab supported Minister Murray’s conversation further driving home how businesses could get involved in a local initiative that is creating a network of like-minded businesses addressing sustainability through target setting. Carbon 613 is a recently launched program by EnviroCentre that works with public and private sector organizations to measure their operational carbon footprint and report on their progress.

Carbon 613 is one of seven social enterprises across Ontario convening networks of businesses setting sustainability targets with the support of Sustainability CoLab.

Learn more about EnviroCentre’s Carbon 613 program.

The next Better Buildings Breakfast is on Benchmarking Blues: Mandatory Energy Reporting Comes to Canada on Thursday, November 5 at Empire Restaurant. To register: http://goo.gl/QTsWNa

The next Carbon 613 event will host an expert panel speaker discussing Carbon Offsets vs. Renewable Energy Certificates on Thursday October 22, 2015 at 2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. at the Adobe Building. To register: www.envirocentre.ca/carbon613/events

About Better Buildings Breakfast
Hosted by James McNeil, RPA, LEED AP, the Better Buildings Breakfast is a monthly event bringing together a wide-range of businesses with a focus on green buildings and sustainable workplaces.

About EnviroCentre
EnviroCentre is a non-profit organization offering practical services and programs that help individuals and organizations conserve energy, improve environmental health and act more sustainably.